Suddenly, the Cubs Have Fewer Ways to Beat You, and It's Showing

It's not as though the Cubs' batters have forgotten how to play their game. In addition to hitting 34 home runs this month (trailing only the Mets for the most in the league), Chicago has 17 stolen bases and has been caught just four times in June. They continue to try to manufacture runs using their speed and subtle skills. However, the slightly impatient nature of their younger hitters is starting to stunt their ability to put together multiple multi-run rallies within a game. They've only walked 52 times in 742 plate appearances, a 7.0% rate that looks nothing like the one the team was posting early on.

Two recent losses did see the team chalk up seven runs and lose 8-7, thanks to that power, but that's precisely the reason why the loss of dynamism in their lineup is so galling: they need runs more than ever. Miguel Amaya's injury has been part of the depletion of the lineup, but the losses of Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga (plus Javier Assad, who hasn't even made it as far as a big-league mound this year) are catching up to them more glaringly.

In the last 30 days, Cubs starters have a 4.73 ERA, which ranks 23rd in the league. Jameson Taillon's home run vulnerability has returned with a vengeance. Colin Rea's job appears to be to take the mound every fifth day and hold it for as long as possible, absorbing damage and innings and refreshing the bullpen after short starts by others. Ben Brown has been so inconsistent that it's impossible to count on him at all.

If the offense were still humming the way it did for most of April and May, the Cubs could be overcoming their poor starting pitching a bit more consistently. As it is, they're 10-10 this month, and trending in the wrong direction. The bullpen is solid, but not superb. The defense is stout, but shows more cracks when the pitching slumps this badly.

The lack of a productive bench bat has shown up in a big way. There's no one outside the core lineup whom Craig Counsell can trust to make a contribution to scoring, so most of the team's key players are playing as close to every day as their bodies will bear. That's led to some slumps, and to some stretches where a player's numbers look ok, but wherein they produce only by hitting home runs. The balance and the versatility have seeped out of this roster.

Recharging the group will be the job of both Counsell and Jed Hoyer, over the next five weeks. Imanaga will return from his hamstring strain Thursday, after almost two months' absence. New injuries will also crop up, though, and the team needs help on the positional side. It's not clear, right now, where that will come from. Still leading their division by 2.5 games, the Cubs are in good shape. To stay that way, though, they need to rediscover their early-season magic.